Search form

Information & Links

Facts & Figures

Australia's first inhabitants, the Aboriginal people, are believed to have migrated from some unknown point in Asia to Australia between 50,000 and 60,000 years ago.

While Captain James Cook is, sometimes mistakenly, credited with Australia's European discovery in 1770, it is possible it was a Portuguese who first sighted the country, while the Dutch are known to have explored the coastal regions in the 1640s.

The first European settlement of Australia was in January 1788, when the First Fleet sailed into Botany Bay under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip. Originally established as a penal colony, by the 1830s the number of free settlers was increasing. Transportation of convicts to the eastern colonies was abolished in 1852 and to the western colonies in 1868.

Australia has currently (2014) more than 23 million inhabitants. It is one of the most urbanised countries on earth with it's two major cities, Sydney and Melbourne, accounting for almost 40% of its population and housing over 4 million inhabitants each.

As of 2011 - 335.000 Australians are Dutch by ancestry and 76.000 are Dutch by birth.

• the Australian Capital Territory
• the Northern Territory
Under Australia's federal system of government, the states and territories also play a major role in providing government information and services to the public.

Minor territories of Australia include part of Antarctica (the Australian Antarctic Territory) as well as:

Australia's continental plate drifted away from Antarctica towards the equator between 10 and 55 million years ago. This isolation of Australian plants, landscape and wildlife led to a unique evolutionary process.

Australia has an exceptional range of species with more than 80 percent of our mammals, frogs, reptiles and flowering plants found nowhere else in the world.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples inhabited most areas of the Australian continent before the arrival of European settlers. Today, Australia is a culturally diverse society with a population of over 20 million. English is Australia's official language but more than four million residents speak a second language.

Australia is located in the Southern Hemisphere. It has an area of nearly 7.7 million square kilometres. It is the world's sixth largest nation after Russia, Canada, China, the USA and Brazil.

Lying between the Indian and Pacific oceans, the country is approximately 4,000 km from east to west and 3,200 km from north to south, with a coastline 36,735 km long.

Australia has 16 listed World Heritage properties:

Great Barrier Reef

Kakadu National Park

Willandra Lakes Region

Lord Howe Island

Tasmanian Wilderness

Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park

Central Eastern Rainforest Reserves

Wet Tropics of Queensland

Shark Bay in Western Australia

Fraser Island

Australian Fossil Mammal Sites (Riversleigh/Naracoorte)

Heard and McDonald Islands

Macquarie Island

Greater Blue Mountains Area

Purnululu National Park

Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne

Australia is also famous for its landmark buildings including the Sydney Opera House, and the Sydney Harbour Bridge; its ancient geology, as well as for its high country.

Climatic zones range from deserts to snow-capped mountains; from tropical rainforests to cool climate forests. The summer months are December to February, autumn months are March to May, winter months are June to August and spring months are September to November.

Australia experiences many of nature's more extreme phenomena, including floods, droughts and bushfires. Some regions also experience storms and tropical cyclones.

Australian Flags

The Australian National flag, the Australian Aboriginal people flag, the Torres Strait Islander flag and the Australian Defence Force flag are all proclaimed flags of Australia.

National Anthem

The Australian National Anthem, 'Advance Australia Fair', was declared the national anthem in 1984. It is a revised version of a song written by Peter Dodds McCormick (also known as Amicus) in the late 1900s.

Commonwealth Coat of Arms

The Commonwealth Coat of Arms is the formal symbol of the Commonwealth of Australia and its ownership and authority.

The Netherlands Chamber of Commerce Australia is the business networking platform in Australia for Netherlands - Australian relations and provides its members and partners opportunities to advance business in a professional and social atmosphere, through meetings, events and promotions.

​The Netherlands Chamber of Commerce Australia is the business networking platform in Australia for Netherlands - Australian relations and provides its members and partners opportunities to advance business in a professional and social atmosphere, through meetings, events and promotions.